Domino, Domino, everywhere a Domino

[Dan Barber]

I just now saw the sad face on the Domino

[Norman Pirollo]

Then there is this old school "horizontal mortiser" option. In my furniture maker schooling, this is what we often used for loose tenon joinery or to create mortises for integral tenons. I don't own a Domino as I find it very expensive. All kitted out here in Canada, a Domino is over 2K with taxes. Cannot justify the expense although I do see the merits others have been discussing in this thread. I have a couple of alternatives to the Domino and this one came to me at very little expense (free). Some rust removal, restoring, fitting a router, and added workholding to it and I am happy with the results. I do need to bring the work to the machine, unlike a Domino. I work with predominantly smaller furniture pieces, so the components are smaller.

https://youtu.be/T8Atx1LHAr4

[mike stenson]

Horizontal mortisers are about twice as expensive as a domino.
We can't compare used tool prices to new tool prices. If you got a deal, that's awesome, but it's not a fair comparison.

I've never paid list for a festool product, going all the way back the atf55 I bought first, and still own. But I don't use those prices as a comparison, either.

[Stan Calow]

No doubt it's a useful and quality tool. I think a hobbyist should look at buying one, and maybe any expensive tool, on a $ per project basis. I'd consider how many future projects I might use it on and decide if the cost is worth it. At my stage in life, again as a hobbyist, I might have ten or less projects involving M/T left to do. Not worth a $1500 investment, even if my widow ends up selling it for $50 at my estate sale . Now a HF version that is $200 or so might be of interest.

Beadlock is an option for the poor man. And there are router jigs for horizontal mortising.

[Edward Weber]

I have a question for those who say it spurs creativity, how exactly?
I seriously don't understand

Having the ability of putting a loose tenon join virtually anywhere can be great but it's also not always the right thing to do. You still need to understand wood and grain orientation, etc, at least at a basic level.

[Robert Mayer]

If you dont like the domino, dont buy one. Keep doing your joinery however you wish. This argument has been around since the domino launched years ago. The only people complaining about the domino are those who cant afford it and secretly want one.

[Edward Weber]

If you dont like the domino, dont buy one. Keep doing your joinery however you wish. This argument has been around since the domino launched years ago. The only people complaining about the domino are those who cant afford it and secretly want one.

Ignoring the snarky response;
I never said I didn't like them, I think they're a great tool but too many start giving the tool attributes that I think are unrealistic.

[jack duren]

“If you dont like the domino, dont buy one. Keep doing your joinery however you wish. This argument has been around since the domino launched years ago. The only people complaining about the domino are those who cant afford it and secretly want one.”


yes and no…

[mike stenson]

“If you dont like the domino, dont buy one. Keep doing your joinery however you wish. This argument has been around since the domino launched years ago. The only people complaining about the domino are those who cant afford it and secretly want one.”


yes and no…

yet it seems you started this thread to complain about the price.

[jack duren]

I didn’t start the thread to complain about the price..

[Jim Reffner]

Good one Michael. Maybe 2 tears for those that never stop crying?

[Edwin Santos]

I have a question for those who say it spurs creativity, how exactly?
I seriously don't understand

Having the ability of putting a loose tenon join virtually anywhere can be great but it's also not always the right thing to do. You still need to understand wood and grain orientation, etc, at least at a basic level.

Hello Edward,
I don't know if this is a good example but here goes - A friend of mine is an excellent craftsman designer. Most of his work involves exposed joinery.
He has a chair line where the back post is joined to the crest rail with a through tenon that is flushed and exposed on the side of the back post. The way he fabricates this joint is to cut the pieces to size and precise angle, then clamp them together (imagine the crest rail clamped between the back posts a/k/a back legs) then he cuts the mortise through both pieces with the Domino to form the joint. The result is a nicely centered mortise which will receive a through tenon that he mills from solid stock.
I thought it was a creative solution and the finished chair is beautiful. He's a guy that's in business so he needs to find ways to do things efficiently and get first rate product out the door.

The alternative would be to cut the tenons on the end of the curved crest rail and precisely mortise the back posts to receive them, which I think is much more time consuming and complicated.

I hate to use the word "better". This is just one example of where the Domino offered a creative solution.

In my shop I have cut mortises and tenons by hand, used a plunge router with a jig, and recently began using the PantoRouter. This particular joint example would have been much more difficult with these methods. In fact, it might be why I rarely see chairs made with through tenons for that particular crest rail joint.

[Thomas McCurnin]

I don't own one, and I'm not altogether sure what they do which is different that a mortise and tenon, biscuit joiner or dowel joint. I've lived without one for decades now, and unless there is a project in which a Domino is a must have, I will use work arounds.

I mainly use M&T joinery and using a mortiser and table saw can hack one out in a few minutes. A dowel jig (I have several) is also a common go to tool. Finally, I have owned a biscuit joiner for decades, and have used for plywood glueups but honestly, I find it is hard to align the stock if there is a slight error, so a firm hand or a clamp works best. I think biscuit joinery is pretty much worthless.

[Mike Henderson]

Even when I do traditional tenon joinery, I usually use the Domino to make the mortise.

I use the Domino on almost all of my projects - not all, but most.

Mike

[Warren Lake]

A creative use of a gizmo is Joe. Hes used a Hoffman dovetail machine in mitred mouldings on doors. There are approaches to make mitres a bit better. Joes use of the Hoffman is excellent as now pulling the mitre together tight under pre load for its life. Hes not finding a time saving way in that case hes adding time using a gizmo to make a certain joint even better. Ill call that creative and better.

Dont have a domino and not cause of cost if I make a beaded face frame I make it mortise and tennon, not domino and more so not pocket hole. I don't care if it takes longer its how it was done and I care more about that. I have to learn to be faster and more efficient and do it how I want.